The Oxford-educated British astrophysicist is based in Cyprus but had arrived on the island on Saturday and stayed near the port of Agios Kirykos.

Her partner said he woke up on Monday morning and she wasn’t there. He said he called her mobile at 10am and she told him she was out jogging and said “I can’t go fast, I’ll be back slowly, don’t worry.”

Dr Natalie Christopher has been found dead by police.Source:Supplied

By 12pm she had not returned and he phoned the police. Dr Christopher’s phone was still on, prompting her sister to plead with friends not to call her as it would drain the battery which police were using to try and locate her.

On Wednesday a full scale search was underway with specialised police units, a military helicopter, the coast guard, fire department and volunteers scouring the rocky cliffs for signs of her.

The scientist was reported missing after she failed to return from a jogSource:Facebook

By the late afternoon local media reported her body had been found at the bottom of a ravine near the hotel where she was staying.

According to The Sun, a large rock, which may have been dislodged in the fall, appeared to have crushed her.

The body left where it was found so a coroner can examine her in the morning.

An inquiry is being opened into the circumstances of her death with investigators focusing on whether she tripped and fell into the ravine or other factors were at play.

Natalie Christopher was last heard from after apparently going out for a run. Picture: Facebook.Source:Supplied

Earlier, authorities said they would keep all lines of inquiry open — including testing blood spots found in the room for DNA. Dr Christopher’s partner has said the blood spots were the result of a bleeding nose the night before, Skai reports.

Staff that worked at the hotel told local media raised voices were heard. There were also reports of a sheet on the sofa, indicating the couple may have slept in separate beds, according to Sigma Live.

The jogger has been found dead.Source:Supplied

Police spokesman Theodore Chronopoulos told The Sun Online he could not rule anything out and police are appealing for witnesses.

“I cannot exclude they were arguing. Testimonies are being taken as part of an inquiry running parallel to the search operation,” he said.

Local media also reports that homicide detectives from the Greek capital of Athens have arrived in Ikaria and have taken over the case.

Police say they are pursuing all lines of inquiry in the hunt for Natalie Christopher. Picture: Facebook.Source:Supplied

Dr Christopher is from London but based in Nicosia, Cyprus. She is an astrophysicist who manages a local initiative called Cyprus Girls Can and works at Columba-Herschel: Astronomy for Peace as well as Think Cyprus according to her social media.

Pictures online show her with smiling with friends, running youth camps, watching a recent lunar eclipse and taking part in endurance running events.

It has emerged she made a final Facebook post just hours before she went missing, where she wrote about how “beautiful” the area was.

Writing on Sunday morning, Natalie said: “Beautiful spot for swimming and deep water solo - had so much fun here today.

“Realised later there was bolted routes here too, would love to come back again to climb. Any takers?”

One of the last posts before she disappeared.Source:Facebook

The incident comes three weeks after the murder of US molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton on the Greek island of Crete.

The 59-year-old had been attending a conference near the city of Chania and gone out on July 2 without taking her mobile phone, the police said.

Her body was only found six days later in an abandoned World War II bunker near the town of Hania.

A 27-year-old farmer confessed to raping and killing Eaton, who had worked for the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University.